Improvement in electric burglar-alarms and annunciators



I BSheets-Sheetl. .I. T. BEDFDRD.

Electric Burglar-Alarm. and Annunciator. NO. 169,077. Patented 0ct.26,1875

N4 PETER5v PNOTD-LITNOGRAFNER, WASHjNGYON. D. C.

' f7 7 7km M,

3 Sheets--She.t 2.

V I. T. BEDFURD. Electric Burglar-Alarm and Annunciator.

Patented Oct. 26,1875.

3 Sheets--S'heet 3.

T. Electric Burglar-Alarm and Annunciatnr.

BEDFURD.

PatentdOct. 26,1875.

".PETERS. FNQTO-IJTHOGRAPHER. WASHINGTON D. G.

I JOSEPH T. BEDFORD,

amp STATES;

Arena} OF new YORK, N. Y."

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 169,077, dated October 26, 1875; application filed July 9, 1c75.

To all whom it may concern:

- Be it known that I, JOSEPH T. BEDFORD, of the city, county. and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Magnetic Burglar -Alarms and Indicators 5 and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, ref

, rence being had to the accompanying drawings. making a part of this specification, in Whichj Figure 1 is a perspective view of an instrument illustrating my invention as applied to both'a door and a window. Fig. 2 is a front view of the instrument. dinal central section of the instrument as applied to a door and set for action. Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section. showing the instrument applied to a window, and as indicating and sounding an alarm in line a a, Fig. 2. Figs. 5 and 6 are detail views of the circuit-breaker adapted for application to a window. Figs. 7 and 8 are detail views of the circuit-breaker adapted for application to a door. Fig. 9 isa diagram illustrating the connection of the different circuits. Fig. 10 is a diagram illustrating a modification of the invention.

The nature of my invention consists in certain constructions and combinations of the several parts of magnetic alarms and indicators, as hereinafter described and specifically claimed, whereby the instrument is greatly simplified, rendered more convenient of management, and whereby many objections to instruments of this kind in use are overcome, as will be hereinafter shown.

A is the base of the instrument; B, an insulating-bar, to which binding-screws b, b b b b b and b are fastened. O O are batteries connected with the binding-screws b b b and I) by means of wires, and B U are portions of a building to he guarded, connected to the binding-screws]; b b by means of wires. E is the indicating-plate of theindicator. It is made of suitable material, and marked off with characterssuch as, forinstance, Window, Door, Halli 'In front of each of these characters a cover, P, is placed, and by the swinging down of this cover the character behind it will be exposed to view, and the point where the burglar is operating made known, as illustrated in Fig. 2 of the draw- Fig. 3 is a longituings. This, indicating-plate is arranged to form the front of the case-10f the instrument. H is an alarm-bell, supported bya bracket, H. I is a standard or fulcrum for the lever l of the bell-hammer I 2' i are; set'screws forming the pivotal bearing for the axis of the lever. 1 l are stands or controlling-brackets under which the lever vibrates. l is a double acting spring for actuating the hammer-lever. '6 i are screws for controllingthe extent of the vibration of the hammer-lever. J is the bellmagnet, consisting of two coils. J is the armature of the bell-magnet. It is attached to the lever I. The parts named, relating to the alarm-bell, are to be suitably mounted on the top portion of the instrument-case.

The movements of the lever l and its armature are controlled by the spring 1 and the two set-screwsi'i as follows: The spring being attached about midway of its length to the top of the lever, and its respective ends lying under the screws z i, it acts to alternately rebound the lever, and thus.theleverisquickly acted upon, and when the hanlmer'falls the rear end of its lever and spring will bezthrown up against the set-screw i, and the sliiring will strike this screw and there by cause the lever to rebound and come so close to the bell-magnet that verylittle magnetic power will be required to bring the armature in contact with the magnet. The set-screw i, by contact with thespring l, conducts the electric current to the stainlardl Kis the magnet of theindicator. It is fastened to a support, L, behind the indicatorplate, and its armature M issuspended by a spring, N, which is fastened to a metallic rod, 0, below the top of the instrument-case Gr. The armature-swing is provided with a'catch, n, on its forward end', andthe indicator-cover with a hook, p, and the catch a engagcswith the hook p when the cover is raised and the hook has been passed through an opening, 0 in the indicator-plate, as sho'\\ui'in'l igs.'3 and 4. When the armature is released from its magnet it is raised by its spring N,'and the catch a disengages from the hook p, andthe cover falls down, as shown in Figs. 2 and 4. The coverP is provided with a tail-piece, 0, which extends through the indicator-plate, under a horizontal rod, 6 of a." draw-bar,"E

The draw-bar is connected to a spring, G, by

alink g, and is guided by-a staple, a. By pulling down the draw bar the cover 1? is raised in frontof the indicating characters, and secured by becomingre-engaged, through its hook p, with the catch at. it

In practice a series of indicating-characters,

covers, armatures, and magnet-s .will be proingyin contact with an insulator, g, on the springQ,and thereby separating the spring Q from the springN, as] shown in Fig. 3. n

t The operating parts, which. are used on a window in .connection withlthe indicator or alarm, consist of a stationary plate, It, and a spring, R which are so constructed that they arein contact ,when the window is closed, and out of contact when the window is open. R is a perforated plate fastened to the frame it, and havingthe spring R? connected toit. The plate R isalso attached to the window-frame.

The spring R. andplate R are shaped to engage with each other, as shown in Fig. 5, and

theformerhas an angular bend in it, which enters a recess, 1', in the sash S, which recess is in linewith thespring in theplate R The said bent he portion is impinged upon by the sash whenthe sashis raised. By thus impingingupon the spring B it is forced out of.

contact with theplate R and the circuit is thereby. broken, as illustrated in Fig. 6.

I The operating parts, which are fastened to ewer-amen, and form the circuit-breaker,

are as shown in Figs. 7 and 8. These consist "of aspring,:T havinga pin, t, and a circuit completing plate, U. The parts T and U are placed inarecess of the door-frame, and are covered by a perforated plate, T through whichthe pint moves when the door is opened. The normal position of the parts is shown in Fig.7, and thisis changed and the circuit broken by the pin tYbein g released as the door is: opened, It will be understood that the door binds against the pin t when it is closed, and that the act of opening the door permits the springwto act, and assume the position shown in] Fig. 8, hy its pin t passing through the opening of the plate. The upper sashes are prouidedwith the same operating parts as the lower sashes,but owing to the reversed motion (the? said parts are arranged in a re verse posit-ion, orupside down. The magnet Klis \operatedfrom. the battery 0, and the negatiyeiwire K thereof is provided with a switch,}Y,.whereby theconnection with the coil may be returned to this battery direct insteadjgof completing the. circuit through the House... ,Ifthe current is runthrough the protected portion of the house, and from thence to the negative binding-screw b, and thence to bindingscrew b by wire K", and thence. to

the battery 0, it is compelled. to follow the wire K through the binding-screw b into the house through the circuitbreakers of the sashes, and back on the wire K through r the binding-screw b and on a short wire, K",

which is connected with the negativewire K and from thence to battery '0 through binding-screw b By my plan, as described, the circuit of battery 0 is broken by. the circuit-breakers on the doors and sashes. and when the circuit is broken the armature M rises, and allows the indicator-cover topswmg down, and

at this instant a connection with the alarmcircuit is made, said circuit'wire K being in connection with battery 0 through binding screw b When the wholemachine is tobeiuactive a main or combination switch,.X,,comes into requisition, which affords, when used, amore' direct or shorter routefrom the coils of the magnets K K to the battery 0, through wires :17 y z. The wire as connects the wireK with the conducting spring'plate Z. The wire 3/,

connects the wire K with the springplate Z and the wire 2 makesconnection between the negative binding-screw b of. battery 0 and the cam 2 by means of the fulcrum-stand z? of thecam-shaft Z As the highest ;part of said cam is turned up by nleansot' the cranlr Z the spring-plates Z Z touch it, and the short route of the combined circuits is thereby efi'ected, and the whole machinebecomes passivewithout breaking the; normal circuit.

Battery G runsan open circuit, by which? the alarm is operated. The bindingscrew 1)..1 of this circuit is connected bythe wire 1 and the interposed switch Y with the bell magnet J, and by the wire 2 the current is conducted to the standard 1, and through the center screws 12 6 to the lever Pand its balaneingy spring I"; thence through theset-screw Land; stand I and connecting-wire 3 tothe metallic rod 0. The current nowfollows the spring N and the upright spring Q, (providedthe cover P is disengaged,) and follows the .wire 4 .to the negative binding SGI'BWQ bf of battery O. r

WVhen the machine is set foroperation the switches Y X are out of actionthat is, the

short routes for the circuits are disconnected.

If, for instance, a window-sash should be raised, the circuit of the magnet- K will be broken, as seen in Fig. 4, and itsarmature MT and the spring N released and allowed to rise 1 and disengage the catchnyand book 11 of the armature M from the cover l and allow the I cover P to swingdown and expose the word,

Window. The springQatthis instantmoyes forward until its upper endcomes in contact;

with the catch at and makesconnection the battery-circuit G, as shown in Fig 4 connection being made, the currentnpasses-j from battery 0 to binding-screw bf: and to] the wire 1, and through the switclrY; thence; to the bell-magnetJ, and from thence to rd. I by ir a d fwinthen ethmush;

the center screw I thence through the arm of the lever 1 and through spring I, at which point the connection is only maintained while the spring is in contact with thescrew i. From the set-screw 43 the circuit is continued through standard I on wire 3 to rod 0, and from thence to and through springs N and Q, through wire K", to the binding-screw b and back to the battery 0. A short time before the armature J touches the magnet J the contact between the back end of the spring I and the screw '5 ceases, and the armature finishes its descent by attraction of the magnet, and the blow on the bell follows. The forward end of the spring I overcomes the spent power of the magnet by rebounding the hammer from the bell. This re-establishes the closed circuit by the contact of the screw t' with the back end of the spring I, while the spent power of its front end gives a new impetus to the back end, by which the now recharged magnet J is assisted in re-attracting its armature, thereby causing a rebound upon the front end 'of the spring I.

If an alarm should be desirable without an indicator, the arrangement of the batteries and their connections with windows, doors, or other movable structures then would be as shown in Fig. 10, in which plan the connection by wires W and W, between the magnet J, battery 0, and the window-sash S and door T, and also the connection by wires W and W between the same magnet J the lever 1 theset-screw i, and battery 0 would be as shown. Under this arrangement the circuit of battery 0 is broken by the circuit-breakers, as in the other plans described and shown, and battery (J ceases to act on the armature J but it is immediately acted on by battery 0 through the connection 2', and the lever vibrated and an alarm sounded. The wires W and W work in a closed circuit, while W and W work in an open circuit. By moving down the rod E and checking its upward motion by a catch retaining its handle, the covers P P are kept permanently closed, and the indicator and alarm are thrown out of action,

wires or y 2, connected, respectively, with the wires K K and the negative wire of the operating-battery C, constructed and operated as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination of the distributing and returningwires of battery 0, and the connecting wires of battery 0, the binding-screws, the armature-magnet J and the spring 1 substantially as and for the purpose described.

3. The double-acting spring 1 in combination with the lever of the alarm-bell, and with the screws *5 i constructed and operated substant-ially as and for the purpose specified.

4:. The combination of the cover P, having tail-piece 0 and hook p, the spring N, the rod E and-bar e constructed and operated substantially as and for the purpose specified.

5. The circuitbreaker, consisting of the plate R the spring R and the plate R substantially as described.

6. The spring R fastened to the plate 1 which covers it, and bent as shown, so as to avoid much cutting away of the sash, in combination with the plate R substantially as herein described.

. 7. The combination of the springs N and Q and indicator-covers P, whereby a simultaneous operation of the said indicator-covers and a closing of the circuit for the alarm magnet is efi'ected, substantially as hereinbefore specified.

JOSEPH T. BEDFORD. Witnesses:

J. N. CAMPBELL, J. P. THEODORE LANG. 

